Phone Call
by TheSkyWriter
Summary: He knew it was stupid. He knew that it would be useless, but at this point, Kaz couldn't bring himself to care. Kaz closed his eyes as the dial tone rang on. Even though the rational part of his brain knew it was impossible, he still wished for the other person on the end of the line to answer. "You've reached Horace Diaz, Chief-of-Staff at Mighty Med Hospital for Superheroes."


He knew it was stupid. He knew that it would be useless, but at this point, just like the other times, Kaz really couldn't bring himself to care. He was settled into a corner inside Mission Command, alone, with his phone held tightly in his hands. Kaz pulled his knees up to his chest, and with one arm held them close while the other helped his phone rest against his ear. Kaz closed his chocolate eyes as the dial tone rang and rang and rang. He hated this part, because even though the rational part of his brain knew it was impossible, he still wished for the other person on the end of the line to answer. The dial tone seemed endless, it always did, but then Kaz let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding as the voicemail was delivered to him. That breath was shaky.

"You've reached Horace Diaz, Chief-of-Staff at Mighty Med Hospital for Superheroes. I can't come to the phone right now because I'm either busy or I've misplaced my phone again. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I'm done being busy or when I've found my phone. I love bridges!" As always, there was a beep at the end of the voicemail that Kaz had commited to memory at this point.

"Hi Horace." Kaz whispered. He cleared his throat free of the crack. "It-It's me, Kaz. Again. I've left you over a dozen messages, but I guess it doesn't matter at this point. I-I just wanted-I don't know." Kaz choked out a laugh. "You know it's been a month? Not since, you know, Mighty Med. But since the whole wedding-Bridget thing? Since me and Oliver got our powers? Oliver's good by the way. He hasn't fully mastered his powers yet, though. It's still kinda funny, because he gets so frustrated becuase he's not top of the class now. I am, actually. My powers are awesome, and I'm getting the hang of them really easily. It's almost a walk in the park. Chase and Mr. Davenport are doing a good job of teaching us how to use them properly, not that I'd ever tell them that. Their both so pig-headed it's unreal." Kaz gave another shaky chuckle, then his face fell. "We're getting closer to getting the guys that did this, Horace. We know who they are now. Roman and Riker, Rodissius's kids? It's them. Apparently they were so freaking upset about Oliver and me sacrificing his powers to save his life. Said we took away what made him special, and that it was a fate worse than death itself. I know, really warped way of looking at it. They were trying to get back at me and Oliver, and they thought that we would be at Mighty Med. They attacked the hospital because they thought that we would be there." Kaz didn't bother to stop the tears that were building up in his eyes, falling down his cheeks. "It's all our fault, Horace. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry, Horace. If I'd never gone and dug up the Arcturion, we wouldn't have been out chasing Bridget. We would've been there at the hospital, and maybe, maybe you'd still be alive." Kaz choked out, his cheeks housing rivers of tears. Kaz curled tighter into his ball in the corner of Mission Command, unaware that someone was coming down the hyperlift. "I'm so sorry, Horace. I just-I miss you so much, and I know that it's all my fault."

Suddenly there were a pair of arms around Kaz, puling him tightly against a warm chest and tears leaking into his black hair. Kaz dropped the phone and curled into the embrace, burrowing his face into the shoulder of the person holding him and sobbing brokenly as he clutched to them as if his life depended on it. The guilt from losing Mighty Med, the grief and mourning that Kaz had buried deep down to prevent anyone else from seeing, it was all flooding to the surface and Kaz couldn't stop it if he tried. It was like the bursting of a dam.

Ever since losing Mighty Med, losing Horace and the family he had gained while being at the hospital, his sanctuary, Kaz hadn't shed a single tear. He didn't have the _right_ to cry. Because it was his fault. _All_ of it was _his_ fault. Bridget becoming evil. Oliver losing his mother. Roman and Riker seeking revenge. Mighty Med being destroyed. Horace and everyone else's resulting _murder_. It's all his fault.

With that knowledge in mind, Kaz began to struggle in whomever's arms, but they just held on tighter. "It's _not_ your fault, Kaz." Oliver's voice hissed in his ear. Kaz froze. "Roman and Riker are psychopaths. We did everything we could for Rodissius, and in the end, to keep him alive, we had no choice but to sacrifice his powers. We did our job, we did what we could. And if we had been there during the attack, we would have been killed too, and you know it. Now I know that you wouldn't mind being killed in there, but I _can't lose you_. You're my brother and I need you. And you feel the same towards me. We would be dead alongside Horace and the others if we had been there. Do you think that's what Horace would have wanted? He was ready to die to save the both of us on more than one occasion. Do you honestly think that if we were to go back right now and be there during the slaughter that he would be pleased with us? He'd ask us what the heck we were doing there and tell us to get out! And you know it!"

"I-I just miss them so much." Kaz whimpered, his voice weak and small and he couldn't bring himself to care as the tears fell full-force once again. "I just want them back, Ollie."

Oliver's breath hitched in his chest and his voice was chock full of tears that were entering Kaz's black hair. "Me too, Kazzy. Me too." Oliver choked out through his heaving sobs that were beginning, and Kaz manuvered so they were holding each other, faces buried into each other's shoulders as they cried for the family and home they had lost for the first time. They held each other, too scared to let go and not caring that they were leaving potential bruises, Oliver especially.

This wouldn't be the last time. The cries would continue. Hugs that were bone-crushing and desperate would occur without shame or care about who was watching. They would begin reaching for each other almost immediately, for the assurance that the other was still there. Nightmares would continue on like they had been, but instead of keeping quiet, they would be talked about and they would even start crawling into bed with one another to keep them away.

And slowly, it would get better. The hole would never be gone, but the pain of it would lessen and ease to the point of _bearable_. The nightmares, the cries, the desperate hugs, and crawls into each other's beds, it all would slow to a stop as their grief and mourning waned with time.

But for now, Oliver and Kaz would sit in the corner of Mission Command, clinging to each other so tight that you couldn't tell one from the other, and cry, the sound of their grief and sorrow bouncing off the walls.

 **I recently PM-ed EmeraldTulip and we both agreed that we hated the fact that Kaz and Oliver weren't given any time to grieve or mourn Mighty Med. (Save for Kaz's little excursion in the first episode.) (Skylar is excluded for obvious reasons.) So I decided to remedy that!**


End file.
